By Fiona Grond & Humam Eid
Two different music styles combined into one musically beautiful weaved piece that captivates the ears from its enchanting decrescendos and climatic crescendos.
This composition, with its combination of the meditative vocal improvisations, touches of piano chords, the enticing strokes of the melodious Oud and Qanoun, has been composed with the collaboration of the two artists with two different musical backgrounds that show the beauty of mixing the two worlds together.
About the production process:
Since I have known that Fiona was my partner in this project I immediately started searching and listening attentively to some of Fiona’s online work to have a better idea about her style that I was supposed to be integrated with; knowing that Fiona’s style was a bit different from what I usually perform. A few days later, I got in a contact with Fiona and we directly agreed on headlines.
Actually, there was less talking meanwhile we had a lot of dynamic music work between us; as the track kept on swinging effectively from Fiona to me with a new rhythms, oriental improvisation and vocal effects; each depending on her/his own experience.
The First step included composing the backing track using time signature 6/8 by Fiona. In addition to building a short melody bringing into play Oud by me which was repeated twice at the beginning and at the end to ensure the unity of work. The second step, the track swung back to Fiona to record her vocal improvisation in imitation with Qanoun and she created an intro improvisation as well. Afterwards, I throw in Qanoun improvisation by enriching the track with Arabic Maqams throughout quarter tone -at the beginning-, Hijaz Maqam – in the middle- to clearly reveal the oriental touch. At the end, Fiona made her final move in adding vocal effects of her own and mixing all the work together which enhanced the track’s power of expression.
